Carpet supply cradle and feeder mechanism for a carpet measuring and cutting machine

ABSTRACT

A cradle for supporting and rotating a supply roll of carpeting on a carpet measuring and cutting machine, the cradle drive being reversible to at times wind up the supply roll and at other times to drive the carpet in feed-out direction onto the lead bed of the machine. A cradle trigger is located in the cradle for sensing the free edge of the rug during rotation and operating upon sensing the free edge on the first revolution of the carpet after receipt of a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;carpet advance&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; signal to terminate reverse rotation and initiate forward rotation to unwind the carpet onto the lead bed. Feeder drive belts contact the supply roll and are driven in a direction urging the free edge of the carpet away from the supply roll and onto the lead bed. The feeder belt is subsequently reversed in direction and serves to uncurl and flatten out the trailing edge of the carpet supply roll onto the lead bed when the carpet is fully unrolled.

United States Patent Keesling et al.

Feb. 22, 1972 lnventors: Karl K. Keesling, Los Altos, Santa Clara County; Thomas B. Keesling, Los Gatos, Santa Clara County; Clifford E. Keesling, San Jose; Santa Clara County, all of Calif.

Assignee: Functional Systems Corporation Filed: Dec. 1, 1969 Appl. No.: 881,034

DIG. 3, 68.7, 67.5

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,525,254 10/1950 Appleby ..242/78.8

Lee ..242/56 R Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Attorney-Limbach, Limbach and Sutton [57] ABSTRACT A cradle for supporting and rotating a supply roll of carpeting on a carpet measuring and cutting machine, the cradle dn've being reversible to at times wind up the supply roll and at other times to drive the carpet in feed-out direction onto the lead bed of the machine. A cradle trigger is located in the eradle for sensing the free edge of the rug during rotation and operating upon sensing the free edge on the first revolution of the carpet after receipt of a carpet advance" signal to terminate reverse rotation and initiate forward rotation to unwind the carpet onto the lead bed. Feeder drive belts contact the supply roll and are driven in a direction urging the free edge of the carpet away from the supply roll and onto the lead bed. The feeder belt is subsequently reversed in direction and serves to uncurl and flatten out the trailing edge of the carpet supply roll onto the lead bed when the carpet is fully unrolled.

2 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDFEB 22 m2 SHEET 1 [IF 8 INVENTOKS N G G/N mflu mum MAF- H K 5 K0 M% mww L CwI PATENTEDFEB 22 I972 sum UF 8 KAKL CLIFFORD LING ZHOMAS 5. KEESLING I INVENTOR5 K. KfilffiL/NG E. K555 [M 15.2% ATTOKNEVS O LO PATENTEDFEB 22 I972 SHEET 3 BF 8 +INVENITOR5 KAKL K. KEESL/NG CLIFFORD 1:. KEESL/NB moms B. KEESLI NG PAIENTEDFEB22 1972 3, 843 .8 85

sum 5 0F 8 IN VENTORS PATENTEUFEBZZ I972 3,643,885

SHEET 8 OF 8 INVENTORS KARL K.

KEESL'ING cum/ 0 E. 5555M? KEE2LING FIG. 5D

RELATED APPLICATIONS This application discloses an improvement in the carpet measuring and cutting apparatus described andclaimed in the copending U.S. Pat. applications, Ser. No. 730,836, filed May 21, 1968 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,662 and Ser. No. 794,340, filed Jan. 24, 1969 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,425 in the names of Thomas B. Keesling and Clifford E. Keesling.

. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The carpet-handling machine described in the above identified applications employs a support cradle for a supply roll of carpet, a conveyor means including a lead bed for conveying the carpet from the supply roll past a measuring and cutting stage, to a gate and roll form apparatus for winding up the carpet into a delivery roll.

The cradle and lead bed have both a forward and a reverse drive and, since it is generally desirable to rewind and tighten up the carpet supply roll when it is first placed in the cradle, the cradle drive is initially energized in the reverse direction to wind up the carpet more tightly on the roll. The carpet may then be more easily aligned on the conveyor bed.

The supply roll is thereafter driven in the forward direction so that the free or leading edge of the carpet will fall free of the roll and be fed onto the lead bed of the conveyor, the rug being driven continuously along the conveyor bed in the forward direction. 1

In the prior machines it was found to'be difficult to stop the supply roll when in the cradle reverse direction in the correct position for the leading edge to properly feed onto the lead bed when the cradle drive was thereafter actuated in the forward direction. In addition, the leading edge was at times so curled and tight against the supply roll that it did not feed onto the lead bed when the roll was rotated in the forward direction.

In accordance with the present invention a carpet or rug feeder mechanism comprising one or more moving belts is brought into engagement with the supply roll, the belts being oriented along a tangent on the upper side of the roll and extending toward the lead bed.

When the signal is given that the forward drive is to be initiated after the supply roll has been satisfactorily tightened, a trigger or switch inthe bottom section of the cradle senses the edge of the carpet as it passes on the first revolution and immediately operates to change the cradle drive to the forward direction. As the free edge of the carpet moves up from the bottom section of the cradle, it may fall away from the roll and be fed along the lead bed of the conveyor mechanism. If not, the edge will encounter the moving feeder belts adjacent the upper portion of the supply roll and the belts will urge the rug away from the roll and carry or lead it down onto the lead bed.

After the rug has been properly fed onto the conveyor bed, the feeder belts are raised up from contact with the supply roll. The drive to the feeder belts is thereafter reversed and the lower end of the belts will then serve at a later time to unwind and flatten out the curled trailing edge of the rug formed at the end of the supply roll when it has been fully unwound.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of'the complete carpet measuring and cutting machine and showing a supply roll of carpet in the cradle for illustration purpose only.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the carpet machine with the carpet feeder mechanism removed but illustrating the edge and forward sensors used in aligning the carpet.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the rug feeder mechanism looking I FIG. 5 is a layout illustrating the manner in which the FIGS. 5A through F should be arranged, these Figures being a schematic of the logic and control circuitry utilized in the operation of the carpet measuring and cutting apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the above-mentioned patent applications a carpet-handling machine for measuring and cutting length of carpet from large carpet supply rolls is disclosed..The detailed construction and operation of this form of carpet-handling machine is fully described in the above mentioned patent applications and will not be repeated here except for so much of the operation and construction as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention. 7

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the carpet machine 10 includes a cradle 11 in which the carpet supply roll 12, is supported, the carpet being fed from the supply roll onto a lead bed 13, past a carpet measuring and cutting stage 14 and onto a forward or discharge bed 15 and a gate bed 16 where the carpet is formed into a delivery roll 17 with the assistance of a roll form mechanism. The drive for the carpet in the cradle and on the lead, discharge, and gate beds is provided by a plurality of rollers forming, in effect, acontinuous conveyor from the cradle 11 to the gate 16. The drive in the cradle 11 and the lead bed 13 is independent of the drive in the discharge bed 15 and gate bed 16 so that the supply roll and the new delivery roll, after the carpet is cut, may be operated independently to rewind'the supply roll and wind up the new delivery roll. These two independent drive systems are operable in both the reverse and forward directions.

In addition, the cradle and lead bed conveyor drive are divided into two sections, a near cradle section 20 and a far cradle section 21, these two drives being independent so that either cradle section may be driven in the forward or reverse directions independently of the other cradle section. This independent drive feature provides the ability in the carpet machine for skewing the carpet supply roll and the carpet travelling over the lead bed so as to properly align the carpet as it is fed onto and along the conveyor system from cradle to gate.

.The carpet-handling machine is provided with sensor mechanism 22 and 23 to sense the edge of the carpet on the conveyor, the sensors operating to control the forward and reverse direction drives of the near and far cradle sections to align the carpet properly on the conveyor bed. The details of the carpet edge sensor mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,425 and includes the first edge sensor 22 located in the lead bed near the cradle and a second of forward edge sensor 23 spaced further along the conveyor bed.

When the carpet has been measured and/or cut and the supply roll and delivery roll are to be discharged, the cradle 11 is lowered to allow the supply roll 12 to move off the cradle while the gate 16 is lowered at the other end to'discharge the delivery roll 17. The roll form 19, during the initial formation of the delivery roll 17, is lowered down into position above the gate 16 to aid in formation of the delivery roll. After the delivery roll is well formed, the roll form is elevated out of the way.

At the measuring and cutting section of the machine, a clamp beam 24 is utilized to descend upon the carpet after measurement and to securely hold the carpet while the cutting blade moves across the carpet bed to sever the carpet at the measure line. Thereafter, the clamp beam 24 is raised to per mit further movement of the carpet in the subsequent cycles of operation. The cradle, gate, roll form, and clamp b am are all raised and lowered hydraulically through as ociated hydraulic pistons. The drives for the rollers in the c nveyor system and the cutting blade are supplied by an electric motor system including the main SCR drive motor 25 and a hydraulic motor, respectively.

A pair of carpet or rug feeder arms 26 are pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the main frame of the carpet machine and are raised and lowered under control of the hydraulic pistons 27. A shaft 28 extends between the two arms 26, the shaft having a plurality of drive rollers or wheels 29 affixed thereon. These rollers are coupled via a chain drive 30 to the gear drive of the far cradle and lead bed rollers so as to rotate in conjunction with and in the same direction as the drive rollers of these cradle and lead beds. A plurality of flexible drive belts 31 extend around and are freely rotatable on the upper drive shaft 28 and extend down to and around a lower drive shaft 32 extending between the two arms 26. These drive belts, which may be of rubber or other suitable material, are driven in clockwise or counterclockwise direction by a hydraulic motor 33 mounted on one of the feeder arms and coupled to the lower shaft 32, the belts being driven independently of the drive wheels 29. A plurality of lugs 31' may be formed on the outer surface of the drive belts to assist in the gripping and driving functions performed by these belts.

As will be described in more detail below, the supply roll 12, when first placed in the cradle 11, is driven in the reverse or clockwise direction to tighten up the winding on the supply roll since, in many instances, the supply roll is delivered to the cradle in a loosened condition. When the operator is satisfied that the supply roll has been properly rewound, he initiates an advance carpet" signal. This signal activates a carpet trigger 34 which is located in the bed of the cradle 11 and which is sensitive to and activated by the edge of the free end of the carpet. The first time that this edge passes over the cradle trigger 34 after receipt of the advance carpet signal, the cradle trigger 34 operates to terminate the reverse drive in the cradle and to initiate the forward drive to start the carpet supply roll rotating in a counterclockwise direction.

At this time, the drive belts 31 in the rug feeder arm mechanism are being driven in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1 by the hydraulic motor drive 33. if the free end 35 of the carpet, when the roll is first started in the forward direction, fails to feed itself out along the lead bed 13 by its own weight, for example, if the carpet is a very stiff carpet and the free end is curled up against the supply roll, the free end will contact the downwardly moving drive belts 31 and the end 35 will be urged downwardly with the belts and towards the lead bed, the drive belts continuously feeding the carpet onto the lead beds and away from the supply roll until the proper conveyor action movement of the carpet takes place toward the measuring and cutting section of the carpet machine.

As will be described more fully hereinafter, the carpet feeder arm 26 is thereafter raised up from the position shown in FIG. 1 and away from the supply roll 12. The feeder belt is reversed so that the feeder belt 31 now rotates in a clockwise direction. Thus, when the supply roll is fully unwound and the inner end of the roll leaves the supply roll cradle, the one or more end windings of the carpet, which are generally very tightly curled, will engage the lower end 36 of the rotating feeder belts and will be driven in an unwind direction, the end curls being unwound and flattened out on the lead bed to proceed along the lead bed toward the gate.

The cycles of operation and the sequence in which they are performed are controlled in part manually by the operator from a control panel and in part automatically by activation of triggers and photosensors. In addition to the cradle trigger 34 in the cradle, the machine is provided with a sequence photosensor 37 in the underside of bed below a light source located in the clamp beam 24, a forward sensor trigger 38 located a short distance after the measuring and cutting stage and in the forward or discharge bed; a position photosensor 214 located in the forward bed close to the gate 16 and a rollup photosensor 39 located in the upper portion of the gate. Both the position photosensor 214 and the rollup photosensor 39 are arranged to intercept a beam of light from a light source 39' located in the roll form.

A rug feeder trigger 25' is also mounted on the rug feeder arm near the lower end thereof and positioned to be operated by the rug as it first passes off the carpet supply roll and onto the lead bed of the machine. A shoe 24 is pivotally niounted on the rug feeder mechanism and rides on the supply roll for reasons described below. The operation of the various triggers and sensors will be described in greater detail below.

The shoe 24 is mounted on an arm 24a which is pivotally mounted on an L-shaped arm 24b which is pivotally mounted on a control box 24c. The upper end of shoe 24' is supported by a flexible strap, 24d and the upper leg of L-shaped arm 24b engages arm 24a so that arm 24b rotates counterclockwise when shoe 24' is pushed upwardly by a carpet roll. The arms and shoe 24' are supported resiliently by a tension spring 24e. As explained below, rotation of the arm 24b operates a switching means in the form of a potentiometer on control box 24c to raise and lower the rug feeder arm 26 with irregularities in the shape of a carpet roll.

If a fold in the carpet on the roll engages the leading end of shoe 24, the arm 24a may pivot about its connection to arm 24b against a biasing spring (not shown), but arm 24b will also pivot about its support on the control box 24c to cause the arm 26 to be lifted.

CRADLE REVERSE CYCLE When the roll of carpet is first placed in the carpet cradle, it is usually desirable that the carpet roll be rotated in the reverse or windup direction so as to tighten up the wraps of carpet on the roll before measuring and cutting.

With the carpet roll in the cradle, the key operated pulseactuating switch 40 is pushed which produces highs on input 1 of OR-gate 41, input 1 of OR-gate 42, input 1 of OR-gate 43, and input 1 of OR-gate 44. The OR-gates 42 and 43 operate to return the after cut cycle" flip-flop 45 and position cycle" flip-flop 46 to normal should eitheror both of these particular cycles of operation be energized at this time. OR-gate 44 operates through inverter 47 to place a low on lead 48 to the counter circuit (not shown) to reset the counter to zero prior to an automatic preset to 3 feet.

The high on the output of OR-gate 41 operates cradle" flip-flop 49 to place a high on the output lead 2, this high appearing on the input 1 of AND-gate 51, input 1 of OR-gate 52, input 1 of AND-gate 53, input 1 of OR-gate 54, and the input 1 of AND-gate 55. The output of OR-gate 54 goes high to the inputs 1 of OR-gates 56 and 57, respectively, which operate to place a high on the inputs of AND-gates 58 and 59 leading to the drivers 61 and 62 of the reverse clutch solenoids 63 and 64 in the near and far cradles, respectively. A low on the output of inverter 65 disables the AND-gates 66 and 67 to the forward clutch solenoids 68 and 69 in the cradle.

A square wave from the low frequency oscillator 71 is present on input 2 of AND-gate 51 and thus a square wave appears on input 1 of OR-gate 72, the square wave output ofOR- gate 72 operating lamp driver 73 to pulse the yellow Carpet Advance" indicator lamp 74. This flashing yellow lamp indicates to the operator that the machine is in the cradle reverse mode of operation awaiting a carpet advance signal.

The output of OR-gate 52 goes high to input 1 of the motor control logic circuit 75 to insure that the drive to the cradle can operate only up to a medium speed regardless of the position of the motor speed lever 76 in the control console. The drive speed may be slower under control of the operator but may not exceed the medium speed.

The electrical drive motor is under control of the operator via a control handle 76 at the control console. When the handle is moved off neutral to the forward drive position, a positive voltage from the potentiometer 77 activates circuit 78 to place a high on the input 1 of AND-gate 79. The other input 2 to AND-gate 79 is normally high and the input 1 to OR-gate 81 goes high. The input to the inverter 82 therefore go'es high to place a low on input 2 to the motor control logic circuit 75 which serves to energize the electrical drive motor under the speed control of the control handle. The low on the input to driver 83 disables the SCR motor brake 84 and extinguishes the lamp 84.

The high present on the input lead 2 of the AND-gate 53 from AND 79 causes the output of gate 53 to go high to input 1 of flip-flop 85 and input 1 of flip-flop 86. The input 1 to the control circuit 87 goes high, control circuit 87 operating to activate the rug feeder servovalve 88 to lower the rug end feeder mechanism into contact with the rug roll in the cradle. Flipflop 86 operates to place high on the input of driver 89 which operates to energize the rug feeder electric motor control 91, to drive the motor in the counterclockwise direction. The cradle trigger solenoid 93 is also operated to move the cradle trigger into contact with the rug in the cradle. A low appearing from the flip-flop 85 on input 1 of AND-gate 94 disables the gate so as to lock out the driver 95 and the rug feeder motor clockwise control 96.

with a low on its input from inverter 82, a high is present on the output of control circuit 97 to the input 2 of AND-gate 58 and the input 2 of AND-gate 59. The outputs of AND-gates 58 and 59 go high to the associated drivers which operate the near reverse clutch and the far reverse clutch in the cradle so that the rug drive wheels in the cradle will be driven in the reverse direction to wind up the carpet roll.

At this stage of operation, the carpet roll is rotating in the reverse direction in the cradle to tighten up the carpet on the supply roll under the observation of the operator. The speed of rotation is under control of the operator up to a maximum speed in the medium speed range and the yellow lamp 74 is flashing as an indication of this particular mode of operation.

Voltage translator 75 is a voltage translator circuit which allows a ground based analog signal to operate a line voltage based analog signal requirement of the SCR motor control.

CARPET FORWARD CYCLE When the carpet roll has been tightened to the satisfaction of the operator, he initiates the next stage of operation by pushing the carpet advance" button 101 on the control panel. This places a high on input lead 2 to AND-gate 55 which operates to in turn operate flip-flop 102 and place high via lead 2 on the input 1 of AND-gate 103, the input 2 of OR- gate 72, and the input 1 of OR-gate 104. The output of OR- gate 72 goes steadily high and changes the condition of the yellow light 74 from a flashing condition to a steady state ON condition to indicate the new cycle of operation. The output of OR-gate 104 goes high to the input 3 of the motor control logic circuit 75 which operates to insure that the drive speed cannot exceed a slow speed under control of the operator during this carpet forward cycle.

A high on input 1 of AND-gate 103 enables this gate to await receipt of an incoming signal on the other input 2 which occurs the next time that the end of the rug goes past the eradle trigger and operates it to place a high on input 2. The output of AND 103 goes high to the input lead 1 of OR-gate 105 which places a high on the input lead 1 of flip-flop 106 and a high on the input lead 1 offlip-flop 107. 1

Output lead 2 of flip-flop 106 goes high to input 3 of flipflop 102, input 2 of OR-gate 52, input 1 of OR-gate 108, and input 3 of flip-flop 49. The cradle flip-flop 49 operates to deactivate the cradle reverse" cycle.

The output lead 2 of flip-flop 102 goes low to OR-gate 72, AND-gate 103, and OR-gate 104. The low on OR-gate 72 opens one circuit to the yellow lamp 74; the low on AND-gate 103 disables the slow speed control in the motor logic circuit 75.

OR-gate 52 goes high to input 1 of the motor logic control circuit 75 to set an upper speed of medium so that, during this initial forward motion, the carpet can-go no faster than a medium speed.

The output of OR-gate 108 goes high to input 1 of OR-gate 109 and input 1 of OR-gate 111. Gate 109 places high on input 2 of AND-gate 66 and ORgate 111 goes high to input 2 of AND-gate 67.

The output 2 of flip-flop 49 goes low to open the circuit at AND-gate 51 to the yellow lamp 74 which is now extinguished. The low on input lead 1 to AND-gate 55 produces a low on the input lead of flip-flop 102 to cause the output lead 2 to go low. A low on input 1 of OR-gate 54 causes the output to go low and the output of the inverter circuit 65 to go high. The low on the output of OR-gate 54 drives OR-gates 56 and 57 low to the AND-gates 58 and 59 to deenergize the near and far reverse clutches in the cradle. The high on the output of inverter 65 to AND-gates 66 and 67 produces a high on the output of AND-gate 66 to energize the driver 112 of the far cradle forward clutch 68 and a high on the output of AND-gate 67 to energize the driver 113 of the near cradle forward clutch 69. These two clutches operate so as to drive the cradle wheels in a direction whereby the rug will unwind from the roll in the cradle. The lamps 113 are operated to indicate the operation of their associated cradle clutches.

The high on input 1 of flip-flop 107 causes the output to go high to the input 1 of AND-gate 115 and thus enable the forward sensor trigger connected to the input 2 of AND 115.

At this stage of the operation, the cradle drive has been switched into the carpet forward direction, the rug feeder arm has been lowered onto the carpet roll and the drive wheels and rubber feeder belts are being driven in a counterclockwise direction tending to peel the carpet off of the roll, forward clutch 113 and lamp 92 are energized to indicate the particular stage of operation.

As the rug commences to rotate in the forward direction, the free end of the rug, because of its weight and its flexible nature, begins to feed itself onto the lead bed. If the rug is of a stiffer nature and will not feed itself out onto the lead bed, the free end of the rug contacts the driven rubber belts in the rug feeder arm and these belts urge the free end of the rug away from the carpet roll and feed it onto the lead bed.

The rug is continuously driven and unrolls onto the feed bed until such time as the forward edge of the rug actuates the forward sensor trigger. Operation of the forward sensor closes a high to input 2 of AND-gate 94, input 3 of flip-flop 106, the input of inverter 116, and input 2 of AND-gate 115.

The high on pin 3 of flip-flop 106 produces a low on output 2 of the flip-flop to thereby terminate the carpet forward cycle of operation.

RUG FEEDER OPERATION As described above, while in the cradle reverse cycle and when the control handle is moved into the forward" position, the rug feeder valve 88 is operated to lower the rug feeder. The servovalve amplifier circuit 87 includes the input 2 which comes off of the arm 117 of a servofeed potentiometer 118. This potentiometer is operated by the arm or shoe which rides on the carpet roll in the cradle. This shoe will follow the irregular contour of the roll since the rolls are seldom circular but assume various shapes including ovals and egg-shaped configurations. The direction in which the piston in the cylinder 27 that causes the rug feeder to move is determined by which winding 119 or 120 in the servo valve 88 has the unbalance of current. This is a differential current driven device and results in the feed arm being maintained in contact with the rug but with a very light pressure.

The rug feeder counterclockwise motor drive 91 is operated in response to the high on output 2 of flip-flop 86 to guide the rug onto the lead bed as described above. 7

The rug feeder arm can be raised by placing a high on the output of OR gate 122 to cause the input 2 of flip-flop 85 to go high and thus produce a low on the input 1 of control arnplifier 87. This low on pin 1 will cause the rug feeder arm t'o go up and it also locks out any control from the input circuit 2 to the amplifier 87 coupled to the rug feeder servovalve windings. There are three inputs to OR-gate 122 and thus three ways in which the rug feeder arm may be raised. The input to lead 1 is from auxiliary lift button 123 on the front control panel through the inverter circuit 124. When the auxiliary lift button 123 is pushed it places a low on the input to inverter 124 and a high on the output to the OR-gate 122. The input 2 to OR-gate 122 is connected to a rug feeder trigger which is mounted on the rug feeder arm and is activated by the free end of the carpet passing onto the forward bed of the carpet, assuming that the end of the carpet is curled up slightly so as to strike this rug feeder trigger. The other input 3 of OR-gate 122 is coupled to the output of amplifier 125 coupled to the sequence trigger circuit located under the cutter beam. When the rug reaches this sequence trigger and causes the light beam to go dark, the output of amplifier 125 goes high to operate the OR-gate 122. Thus the rug feeder arm can be raised by operator control, by the rug striking the rug feeder trigger, or by the rug proceeding to the sequence trigger in the bed of the machine.

Since the rug feeder mechanism hasperformed its function of urging the free end of the carpet from the carpet roll and feeding it onto the forward bed of the machine, the arm can be moved away from the rug roll at this time. The lower end of the rug feeder arm is now positioned so that the rug feeder belts may serve at a later time to flatten out the curled up trailing end of the carpet when the supply roll becomes depleted.

The rug feeder motor continues to run in the counterclockwise direction until the flip-flop 86, output 2 goes low and this occurs when the OR-gate 126 goes high. OR-gate 126 has two inputs. The input 1 is connected to a rug feeder up switch 127 which is operated when the rug feeder arm is moved to an upright position in response to one of the arm control signals. The other input 2 to the OR-gate 126 is from the sequence trigger circuit, a photocell located at the center of the machine below the light beam in the cutting beam. When the light is cut off from the photocell by the presence of a rug under the light beam, the output of the amplifier 125 goes high to the input 2 of the OR-gate 126.

The rug feeder motor clockwise control 96 is energized by driver 95 from the output of AND-gate 94. AND-gate 94 is energized when the forward sensor trigger is activated to place a high on input 2. A high exists on input 1 from the output lead 3 of flip-flop 85 in the normal state and a high also exists on input lead 3 from the output lead 1 of flip-flop 45 which is also normally high. The high remains on output lead 1 of flip-flop 45 until after the rug is cut in a later stage of operation. This insures that the rug feeder motor will run clockwise at all times except when the counterclockwise motor is operating or during the after cut" cycle to be described later.

When the carpet touches or moves either of the edge or forward sensor mechanism it causes the phototransistors to become light as it moves a blade out of the way so that the lamps can shine upon the phototransistors.

The rug feeder belts are driven in the clockwise direction so that when the carpet roll is completely unwound and the end of the carpet is passing onto the forward bed ofthe machine, the trailing end of the carpet, which may be heavily curled, will be unwound by the rug feeder drive belts so that the rug will flatten out on the bed ofthe machine.

RUG ALIGNMENT CYCLE The next cycle of'operation is an automatic rug alignment cycle in which the cradle drive operates in the reverse direction so as to align or straighten the carpet out on the bed of the machine. This carpet alignment cycle is initiated when the override or forward sensor trigger is activated. A high is placed on input lead 2 of AND-gate 115 and the output goes high to the input 1 of flip-flop 128 which causes the output 2 to go high and the output 3 to go low. Inverter 129 goes high to one input of each of AND-gates 131 through 135. The high on output lead 2 produces a high on an input lead to AND- gate 136, input lead 1 of OR-gate 137 and input 1 of OR-gate 138. The output of OR-gate 138 goes positive to input 4 of the motor control logic circuit 75 which causes the carpet drive to be placed in the automatic slow speed condition since the operator does not control the speed of the machine during this cycle of operation. The high on input 1 of OR-gate 137 causes the output to go high to input 1 of the motor lockout flip-flop 139. The output 2 to the input 2 of AND-gate 79 goes low,

AND 79 going low and thus decoupling the motor control circuits from the control handle at the console. The high on the output of OR-gate 138 also produces a high on the output of OR-gate 81 to inverter 82, the output of inverter 82 going low to input 2 of the motor control logic circuit 75 which turns on the SCR motor to drive the carpet.

If the edge inner sensor 141 and the edge outer sensor 142 are both light and the forward outer sensor 143 is dark, then there is a low on the outputs of the associated buffer amplifiers 144 and 145 and a low from driver 146. This produces a high on the output of the inverters 147 and 148, and a low from inverter 149. The high on 147 places a high on one input of AND-gate 131; the high on 148 places a high on another input of gate 131; and a low on the output of inverter 149 to one input of gate 136 causes the output of 136 to be low and the output of the inverter 151 to be high to the other input of gate 131. Thus the output of gate 131 goes high to the input 2 of 1 OR-gate 56. OR-gate 56 goes high to input 1 of AND-gate 58, and, with a high on the other input 2 of AND-gate 58 from the output of control circuit 97, AND-gate 58 goes high to the driver 61 to operate the near reverse clutch 63 in the cradle and thus drive the near cradle in the reverse direction to urge the carpet to move away from the edge sensor and towards the forward sensor.

At the time high is closed to input 1 of AND-gate 58, this high is also closed to input 1 of OR-gate 152, the output of 152 going high to the input 1 of OR-gate 153 and to the input ofinverter 154. The output of OR-g'ate 153 goes high to an input of AND-gate 155. A high is standing on the other two inputs of AND-gate 155 and therefore the output of AND-gate 155 goes high to the driver 156 and operates the far cradle brake solenoid 157 to apply a brake to the drive of the far cradle.

- The negative going output of inverter 154 prevents operation of the AND-gate 158 to the near cradle brake solenoid 159. Operation of the far cradle brake at the time the near cradle drive clutch is operated into the reverse direction aids in the alignment action on the rug.

1f the forward inner sensor 161 and outer sensor 143 are both light and the edge outer sensor 142 is dark, then the output leads of drivers 162, and 146 are both low and the output of driver is high. One input lead of gate 134 is high from inverter 149; another input lead of gate 134 is high from inverter 163. The other input lead of gate 134 is high from the inverter 151 output, the input of the inverter 151 being low since one input to AND-gate 136 is low from the inverter 148 output. The output of gate 134 thus goes high to the input 2 of OR-gate 57, the output of OR-gate 57 going high to the input 1 of AND-gate 59. The output of AND-gate 59 goes high to the driver 62 of the far cradle reverse clutch 63 to operate this clutch and reverse the drive in the far side of the cradle so as to tend to move the rug edge away from the forward sensors.

The high on the output of OR-gate 57 is closed to the input 1 of OR-gate 164 to place a high on the input 2 of OR-gate 153 and the input of inverter 165. The output of OR-gate 153 goes high to the input of OR-gate 158. Highs are standing on the other inputs of OR-gate 158 and thus the output of gate 158 goes high to the driver 166 to operate the near cradle brake solenoid 159. The drive in the near cradle is therefore braked at the time the drive in the far cradle is reversed to enhance the skewing action on the rug. The low on the output ofinverter prevents operation of the AND-gate 155.

During this alignment cycle, the solenoid brakes in one cradle are thus operated each time the reverse clutch in the other cradle is operated.

If the outer sensors 142 and 143 of both the edge and the forward sensor are dark, the output of drivers 145 and 146 go low to cause the outputs of the inverters 148 and 149 to go high. This places a high on the two upper inputs of the AND gate 136, the output of AND-gate 136 going high to the input 1 of OR-gate 167. The output of OR-gate 167 goes high to the input 1 of AND-gate 168 which goes high to the driver 169 of the sensor reverse drive solenoid 171 to drive the edge and forward sensors in a direction to back them off from the carpet.

If the inner sensors 141 and 161 of both the edge and forward sensors are both dark, then the output of the drivers 144 and 162 go high to the input leads of AND-gate 135 go high and AND-gate 135 goes high to the input lead 1 of OR gate 172. The output of OR-gate 172 goes high to the input lead 1 of AND-gate 173, the output of the AND-gate 173 going high to driver 174 to operate the sensor forward drive solenoid 175 to move the sensors in a forward direction toward the edge of the rug.

At this point it should be mentioned that, at the beginning of the alignment cycle, the forward and edge sensors are located back away from the rug edge and thus the inner sensors of. both the forward and edge sensors are dark. The forward sensor drive solenoid 175 is thus operated at that time when AND-gate 135 goes high to OR 172. The sensor drive is activated in a fast speed" mode to bring the forward and edge sensors in quickly toward the rug. This fast mode is enabled at this time due to the fact the sensor bypass solenoid 200 is deenergized and the high on lead 2 of control circuit 200 from AND 135 retains it deenergized.

At the time AND-gate 135 goes low when either inner sensor goes dark, the low on input 2 causes the control circuit 200 to operate to energize bypass solenoid 200" and thus decrease the speed at which the forward and edge sensors may move during the remainder-of the alignment cycle. Sensor bypass 200" does not get deenergized until the start of the position cycle.

The low appearing on the output of inverter 172 opens one input to AND-gate 168 to thereby lockout the sensor reverse solenoid 171 when sensor 175 is operated. Inverter 167 operates in the same manner to lock out the forward solenoid 175 at gate 173 when reverse solenoid 171 is operated.

1f the edge sensors are satisfied, that is, if the edge inner sensor is dark and the edge outer sensor is light, and the forward sensors are both light, the output of driver 144 is low and the outputs of drivers 145, 162, and 146 are all high. The output ofinverter 147 is high to one input of AND-gate 132 while the high of driver 145 appears on the other input of gate 132. The output of gate 132 therefore goes high to the OR-gate 176, the output of OR-gate 176 going high to one input of AND-gate 177. One other input of AND-gate 177 has a high from driver 162 while the other input has a high from the output of driver 146 and, therefore, the output of gate 177 goes high to the input 3 of OR-gate 56. Or gate 56 goes high to the input 1 of AND-gate 58 which operates the driver 61 to the near cradle reverse clutch to cause the drive in the near cradle to reverse to skew the rug so as to movethe forward end of the rug out from the forward sensor.

1f the forward sensors are satisfied, that is, the forward inner sensor 161 dark and the forward outer sensor 143 light, and both of the edge sensors 141 and 142 are light, the output of driver 162 is low while the outputs of drivers 144, 145, and 146 are high. A high on one input lead of gate 133 from driver 146 and a high on the other input lead of gate 133 from inverter 163 results in a high on the input lead of OR-gate 178, the output of OR-gate 178 going high to one input of AND- gate 179. The other two input leads of AND-gate 179 are high from the output of drivers 144 and 145 and thus the output of AND-gate 179 goes high to the input 3 of OR-gate 57. The output of OR-gate 57 goes high to the input 1 of AND-gate 59 and the far cradle reverse clutch is therefore operated to cause the drive mechanism in the far cradle to reverse in direction in order to move the rearward portion of the rug towards the edgesensor.

The above sequence of operation is repeated with the near and far cradle reverse clutches, the far and near cradle brakes, and the forward and reverse sensor mechanism being automatically operated to skew the rug until it is properly aligned in the carpet bed. When properly aligned, the edge and forward sensors will both be satisfied, that is, the inner sensors 141 and 161 of both the edge and forward sensors will be dark while the outer sensors 142 and 143 will both be light. When this occurs, the output of the drivers 144 and 162 will be low while the output of the drivers 145 and 146 will both be high.

The input leads to gate 132 will therefore all be high and the output of gate 132 will go high. Likewise, the inputs to gate 133 will be high and cause the output of gate 133 to go high. Both inputs to the AND-gate 181 will therefore go high and the output of AND-gate 181 will go high to the input of single shot 182 to cause a positive going pulse output. This pulse from the single shot circuit 182 will couple through the OR- gate 183 at input 3 to the motor lockout flip-flop circuit 139 to cause the output 2 to go high and enable the master control circuit at AND-gate 79. The'pulse length is approximately mil.sec. or sufficient to trigger the proper circuits according to the requirements.

This high appears on pin 4 of flip-flop 128 and causes output 2 to go low and output 3 to go high and thus turn off the above described alignment cycle of operation. The high pulse is also placed on input lead 1 of AND-gate 184 to enable this gate at the initiation of the next cycle of operation of the machine which is the rollup cycle. The high appearing on input 4 of flip-flop 107 causes the output to go low to the AND-gate 115 and thus disable the forward sensor trigger. The forward sensor trigger therefore can no longer initiate operation of the alignment cycle although this trigger does perform further functions.

FORWARD SENSOR TRIGGER TO'ROLLUP CYCLE The next cycle of operation of this machine is the forwardsensor-trigger-to-rollup" cycle and the flip-flop 185 controls the cycle. At the time the pulse of high appears on input 1 on AND-gate 184, the input leads 2 and 3 of AND-gate 184 are high. The input 2 is high from the high output of the inverter circuit 186, the input 2 is high from the high output of the inverter circuit 186, the input to inverter 186 being low since a light beam is being directed on the rollup trigger photocell to produce a low output at the driver 187. The source of light for this rollup trigger is located in the roll form, this beam oflight not being cut off or intercepted until such time as the end of the carpet passes over the rollup trigger photocell located in the gate. The high on the other input lead 3 is from the normally high output 1 of the trim override flip-flop circuit 188. The output 1 of flip-flop 188 goes low while the operator is making a trim override and this disables gate 184 to prevent going into the forward sensor trigger to rollup cycle during the trim override cycle. This trim override cycle will be described hereafter.

A high of input 1 to flip-flop 185 produces a high on the output lead 2 to the buffer circuit 189 which operates to produce a high on one input lead of each of the AND-gates 191, 192, 193, 194 and 195. A high is also closed to the input to the two OR gates 196 and 197. A high is also closed to input lead 2 of OR-gate 104 which operates the motor control logic 75 to enable the slow drive for the SCR motor. During this period of time the operator controls the speed of the rug but he can go no faster than a slow speed.

A high also appears on input 1 to AND-gate 198 and lead 1 of AND-gate 199. The other input 2 on AND-gate 198 is coupled to the output of the inverter circuit 116 from the forward sensor trigger.

If, the rug, in being driven in the reverse direction during skewing in the alignment cycle to properly align it, was moved off the forward sensor trigger, a low would appear on the input to the inverter 116 to produce a high on the output to the input 2 of AND gate 198. The output of AND-gate 198 would therefore go high to the input 2 of the OR-gate 108, the output of OR gate 108 going high to the inputs of AND-gates 109 and 111. The output of these AND gates goes high to AND-gates 66 and 67. The far cradle forward clutch and the near cradle forward clutch are thus operated to drive the rug forward until it engages the forward sensor trigger which operates to then disable the gate 198 and deenergize the far forward and near forward clutches.

During this cycle of operation the near and far cradle forward clutches will be operated controllably to skew the rug and keep it aligned in the bed as the rug travels forward on the rug bed. While the forward clutches are being operated it is desired that the cradle brakes be disabled and, to accomplish this, when the output of flip-flop 185 goes high, the other output 2 goes low and places a low on inputs to AND-gates 155 and 158. These AND gates are therefore disabled so that no signals can get to the driver circuits of the cradle far and cradle near brake solenoids 157 and 159.

If the forward inner and forward outer sensors 161 and 143 are both dark, the output of drivers 162 and 146 goes high and thus the inputs to AND-gate 194 go high. The output of AND- gate 194 goes high to the input 1 of OR-gate 201 and the output of this OR gate goes high to the input of OR gate 109. A high on the output of OR-gate 109 to the input 2 of AND-gate 66 operates the driver 112 of the far forward clutch solenoid 68 which energizes to operate the far bed drives in the forward direction to skew the rug towards the forward sensors.

If the edge sensors are both light, a high appearson the output of driver 144 and the output of driver 145 and the inputs of AND-gate 193 both go high to produce a high on the output of gate 193 to the input 2 of OR-gate 172. This high from OR- gate 172 is closed to AND-gate 173 to operate the driver 174 of the forward sensor solenoid 175 which operates to move the sensors toward the rug.

1f the edge sensors 141 and 142 are both light, the output of drivers 144 and 145 goes low to produce a high on the output of the inverter circuits 147 and 148. These highs appear on the inputs of AND-gate 195, the output of AND-gate 195 going high to one input of OR-gate 167 which produces a high on the input of inverter 167 and the input 1 of AND-gate 168. The output of inverter 167' goes low to one input of AND- gate 173 to lock out the sensor forward solenoid. The output of AND-gate 168 goes high to the driver 169 to operate the reverse sensor solenoid 171 to energize the sensor drive in the reverse direction to back the sensors off from the rug.

lfthe forward sensors 161 and 143 are both light, the output from the drivers 162 and 146 goes low and the'output of the inverters 163 and 149 goes high. These highs appear on the inputs of AND-gate 191, the output of gate 191 going high to the input 1 of OR-gate 202. The output of OR-gate 202 goes high to the input 2 of OR-gate 111 which operates to place a high on the input of AND-gate 67. The driver 113 is therefore energized to operate the near forward clutch 69 to energize the drive mechanism in the forward direction in the near bed of the carpet bed.

When the forward sensors 161 and 143 are satisfied, that is, when the forward inner sensor 161 is light and the forward outer sensor 143 is dark, a high appears on the output of driver 146 and a high appears on the output of inverter 163 to the inputs of AND-gate 192. The output of AND-gate 192 goes high to the input 3 of OR-gate 108, a high thus appearing on the inputs of AND-gates 109 and 111 therefore energize the far forward and near forward clutches 68 and 69 and therefore drive both far and near beds in the forward direction.

The above-described alignment in the forward direction is under the control of the master control handle on the panel operated by the operator and may proceed at any speed up to a maximum of slow. The operator can initiate the trim override cycle at this time if he desires and, if not, the cycle continues until the rug passes over the rollup photodetector in the gate and cuts the beam of light off from the detector. The interruption of the beam operates to terminate the forwardsensor-trigger-to-rollup" cycle.

When the rug interrupts the light to the rollup sensor in the gate, the output of the driver circuit 187 goes high and this places a high on input 2 of AND-gate 199. A high is standing on input 1 of AND-gate 199 from the output 3 offlip-flop 185; another high is standing on input 3 of AND-gate 199 due to the fact that the sequence sensor is also dark; and the other input of AND-gate 199 is high from the output of the Schmitt trigger 78 which is high when the master control is moved off of the neutral position and in the forward speed direction. The

output of AND-gate 199 goes high to the single shot circuit 203 which produces a positive going pulse on the input 1 to flip-flop 46. Flip-flop 46 operates to place a high on output 2 and a low on output 3. The flip-flop 46 is the position cycle flip-flop. The positive going pulse output of single shot 203 is also coupled to the input 1 of OR-gate 204 which produces a high on the input 4 of flip-flop to put a low on output 3 and a high on output 2 and thus terminate the forward-sensor-trigger-to-rollup" cycle of this flip-flop.

The low on output 3 of flip-flop 46 causes OR gate 200 to go low to input 1 of control circuit 200 which deenergizes the forward and edge sensor drive bypass solenoid 200" for reasons described below.

A high on output 2 offlip-flop 46 produces a high on input 1 of AND-gate 205 which has a high on its other input 2 as long as the rollup sensor is dark. This results in a high on the output of AND-gate 205 to the driver circuit 206 which operates to place high on input 1 of AND-gate 207. A high exists on the other input 2 of AND-gate 207 from the auxiliary lift button on the control panel and thus the output of AND-gate 207 goes high to the driver 208 and energizes the roll from solenoid 209 to bring the roll form arm down on the gate. The auxiliary lift light 209' is also lighted. The high on the output of the driver 206 is also coupled to the input 2 of OR-gate 137 which produces a high on input 1 to the motor lock out control 139 to disable the master control lever on the console so that the motor speed is not under control of the operator.

As the roll form moves down, it actuates trigger 210 to the roll form clutch solenoid 210 through driver 210 this clutch actuating to cause the roll form wheels to be driven whenever the forward bed is driven and in the same direction. When the roll form is raised up, the drive is terminated by deenergizing solenoid 210.

When the roll form has reached its down position, it operates the roll form switch 211 to place a high on one input of AND-gate 212. A high is standing on the other input 2 while the third input 3 is high since the rug has interrupted the beam of light to the position sensor photocell positioned in the discharge bed. The output of gate 212 goes high to produce a high on the output of the driver 213. This places a high on the input 2 of OR-gate 138 which places a high on input 4 to the motor control logic circuit 75 to operate the motor in an automatic slow mode of operation. The high of the output of gate 138 also is closed to OR gate 82 which operates to place a low on the output of the inverter 82 to the input 2 of the motor control logic 75 which causes the motor to be energized.

A high is also placed on the input 1 of OR-gate 214 which operates to energize the driver 215 to the forward bed reverse clutch solenoid 216 to drive the forward bed in the reverse direction. A high is also placed on input 2 of OR-gate 54 which operates to place a high on the inputs of OR gates 56 and 57 to energize the AND-gates 58 and 59 and the near reverse and far reverse clutch solenoids, respectively. The rug is therefore rewound slowly and backed up on the beds until such time as the rug uncovers the position sensor photodetector 214. At this point a low appears from driver 215 on the input 3 of AND gate 212 to deenergize the automatic slow speed, deenergize the dual reverse clutches, and deenergize the forward bed reverse clutch.

With a low on the output of the driver 215, the output of the inverter 216 goes high to the input 1 of AND-gate 217. At this stage the other three inputs to the AND-gate 217 are all high and a high appears on the output to the input 2 of OR-gate 218. The output of OR-gate 218 goes high to put a low on the output of the inverter 47 to the lead 48 to the counter circuit. This signal serves to reset the readout circuit in the counter.

The high from the output of AND-gate 217 is also coupled to the input 2 of OR-gate 218, the output of which goes high to the input 1 of flip-flop 219. Output 2 of flip-flop 219 goes high to one input lead of AND-gate 221. At this stage, highs exist on the other three inputs to AND-gate 221 and the output goes high to activate the driver 222 and energize theclamp beam down solenoid 223 to start the clamp beam in a downward direction. The clamp beam lamp 223 is energized to indicate this stage of operation.

The high on AND-gate 217 is also coupled to the input lead 1 of the multiple cut flip-flop 224 to reset this flip-flop in the event that a multiple cut has been made as described more fully below.

The signal on lead 48 resets the readout circuit to 3 feet since it is this length of carpet which extends beyond the cutting beam and to the position sensor. The counter will thus take into consideration the fact that 3 feet of carpet already extend beyond the cut line or cutting beam.

When the clamp beam reaches the midposition in its downward movement, the clamp beam middown switch 225 is operated to place a high on input 1 of AND-gate 226 and the input of inverter 227. The output of inverter 227 goes low to place a low in input 1 of OR-gate 228. This removes the high from one input of AND-gate 221 and thus deenergizes the clamp beam down solenoid 223 so that the clamp beam will remain in its midposition. The clamp beam down solenoid 223 is a double solenoid and which can be held in either position or locked at any position in-between by removing power from both solenoids.

A high also appears on input pin 1 of AND-gate 229 which is receiving a square wave signal from the low-frequency oscillator 71 on another input, thus a pulsing output is transmitted through driver 231 to the red next cut lamp 232 on the console to cause this red lamp to flash to remind the operator to dial into the counter circuitry the footage to be cut if he has not already dialed it and to select the next cut" pushbutton 233, the measure only pushbutton 234 or the multiple cut pushbutton 235, depending on the operation that is to be performed.

RUN CYCLE Assuming the operator had activated the measure cut button on the panel, measure and cut switch 230 closes high to flip-flop 230' which place high on the lead 230 to the counter circuit to enable it to return a retard signal and a cut signal after the rug has been measured. The measure and cut" lamp 230A is lighted via inverter 230B.

The run cycle of operation is initiated by the operator pushing the next cut" pushbutton 233 which places ground on one input of AND-gate 226. If the operator has made an error in placing the measure in the counter circuit, for example, if he has put in 12.2 or 12.3 inches where he should have put in 1 foot 2 inches or 1 foot 3 inches, a low will appear on the output of OR-gate 236 since there will be the absence of highs from AND-gate 240 and input 1 of OR 236. AND-gate 226 will therefore not be enabled. If the count is put in properly by the operator, then a high will appear on OR-gate 236 to AND- gate 226 and operation of the next cut pushbutton will result in a high on the output of the AND-gate 226 to one input of OR-gate 43. The output of OR-gate 43 goes high to one input of flip-flop 46 which causes the flip-flop to remove the high from output 2 and thus terminate the position cycle of operation.

The low on output 3 to OR-gate 239' places a high on output 239" to the counter circuit (not shown) to preset the down counter so that it will down count to give off signals at the proper times; one signal is a retard signal and the other signal is a cut signal as described below.

The high on input 1 of the pulse circuit 237 produces a positive going pulse on the input lead 1 of the run flip-flop 238 which operates to place a high on the output 2. A high also appears on one input of OR-gate 183 to cause the motor lock of flip-flop 139 to operate and place a high on output 2 to enable gate 79 and thus place the motor drive again under control of the operator's speed control handle on the console.

When the run flip-flop 238 operates it places high on the output lead 2 and low on the output lead 3 to the inverter 239, the output of which goes high. This high is therefore closed to input lead 1 of AND-gate 241 and to one input of AND-gates 242, 243 and 244. A high is also closed on the lead 238 to the counter circuit to enable the counter so it may register the count from the length measuring apparatus. The counter is enabled only during the run" cycle of operation.

The high on flip-flop 238 is also closed to the driver 246 to operate the measuring pressure shoe solenoid 247 which lowers the shoe on tracker wheel onto the top of the carpet to press the carpet against the measuring belt or wheel underneath the carpet and in the carpet bed. A high is closed to the input 1 of AND-gate 245 which closes a high to the driver 248 to operate the roll form bypass solenoid 249 to remove the hydraulic pressure from the roll form and permit the roll form to ride freely under its own weight upon the carpet roll being formed in the gate.

As the carpet proceeds along the carpet bed under control of the operator at the control panel, the carpet measuring device is operating to measure the length of carpet passing the cutter beam. The counter, at predetermined intervals such as once every 2 feet, sends a pulse on input lead 1 of the single shot circuit 251. The single shot 251 operates to send periodic pulses to input leads of OR-gates 196 and 197 which operate to produce pulsed outputs from the inverter circuits 252 and 253 to inputs of AND-gates 254 and 255, respectively.

These circuits are utilized to maintain the carpet in alignment in the carpet bed as it passes off of the supply roll and is formed into a new roll on the roll bed.

If both edge sensors 141 and 142 become dark, the outputs of the inverter circuits 147 and 148 go high to the two inputs of the AND-gate 242. The output of AND-gate 242 goes high to the input 2 of OR-gate 201, the output ofwhich goes high to AND-gate 255. Since the other input to AND-gate 255 is a high-low pulse input, the output of AND-gate 255 is a series of high-low pulse to the one input of OR-gate 111. The output of OR-gate 111 to the input of AND-gate 67 and thus the output of AND-gate 67 is a high-low pulse series output to the driver 113 which causes the near forward clutch solenoid 69 to be periodically pulsed on and off. The output of OR-gate 201 is also coupled to one input of OR-gate 109 which produces a steady high output to AND-gate 66 to the driver 112 of the far forward clutch solenoid 68 to engage the far forward clutch in a steady manner. Thus the far forward clutch is engaged steadily while the near forward clutch is pulsed. I

At the same time the pulsed output of OR-gate 111 is coupled to the input of OR-gate 67, the pulsed output of OR-gate 152 to the input of inverter 154 is inverted at the input to AND-gate 158 and is thus 180 out of phase with the pulses to the near forward cradle clutch. The near brake solenoid 159 is thus operated alternately with the near forward cradle clutch to cause a more positive pulsing action in the near cradle. The high on the middle input lead of AND-gate 158 comes from the steady high on the output of OR-gat'e 158 via the OR-gates 164 and 109.

If both edge sensors 141 and 142 are light, a high appears on the output of drivers 144 and to the inputs of AND-gate 244, the output of which goes high to the input 2 of OR-gate 202. The output of OR-gate 202 goes high to one input of AND-gate 254 and to an input of OR-gate 111. The pulsing output of AND-gate 254 goes high-low to the input of OR-gate 109 and causes the output of AND-gate 66 to go high-low and activate the far forward clutch solenoid 68 in a pulsating manner. The output of OR-gate 111 goes steadily high to the AND-gate 67 to energize the near forward clutch solenoid 69 in steady manner. The pulsating input of OR-gate 164 causes a pulsation at the far brake solenoid 157 out of phase with the far forward clutch so that the far brake is applied when the far forward cradle clutch is deactivated and vice versa to thereby cause a positive pulsing action in the far forward drive.

When the edge sensors are satisfied, that is, when the inner edge sensor 141 is dark and the outer edge sensor 142 is light, high is connected on the inputs of AND-gate 243, the output of which goes high to the input 4 of OR-gate 108 to cause a high on the input 1 of OR-gate 109 and the input 1 of OR-gate 111. The outputs of OR-gates 109 and 111 go high to AND- gates 66 and 67 to activate both the far forward clutch solenoid 68 and the near forward clutch solenoid 69 to drive both rug drives in the forward direction.

This run cycle of operation continues until several feet before the end of the measure of the carpet is reached, for exampie, 2 feet, at which time a retard signal is received on lead of OR-gate 108 from the counter circuit to place highs on the inputs of OR-gates 109 and 111 to produce a steady high on the outputs of the AND-gates 66 and 67 to the drivers 1 l2 and 113 of the far and near forward clutch solenoids 68 and 69. In this manner the forward clutches are maintained operating in a steady manner rather than in a pulse manner during the last several feet of the carpet before the end of the measure. The signal from the retard circuit in the counter is also coupled to input 3 of OR-gate 104 to place a high on input lead 3 of the motor logic circuit 75 to switch to a slow speed during this last several feet ofcarpet movement.

The retard signal is locked out if the machine is not in the run cycle, the clamp beam is not at midposition, or the machine is in the measure only mode of operation.

CUT CYCLE When the counter output coincides with the measure input initially dialed into the counter by the operator, a signal appears from the counter circuit on the input 256 to OR-gate 257, the output of which goes high to the input 1 of the cut mode flip-flop 258. The output 2 of flipflop 258 goes high to the input 1 of OR-gate 259. The output of OR-gate 259 goes high to the input 4 of the run cycle flip-flop 238 to thereby reset the flip-flop and terminate the run cycle.

A high is also placed on the input 2 of OR-gate 43 to produce a high on input 4 of flip-flop 46 to serve as a lockout for this flip-flop in the event that the sequence sensor should become light during this cut cycle.

A high also appears on input 3 of OR-gate 137, the output of which goes high to the input 1 of the motor lockout flip-flop 139 to thereby remove the motor control from the control handle so that the rug cannot be moved further. A high is also closed on one input to OR-gate 228, the output of which goes high to one input 12 of AND-gate 221. Highs already exist on the other three inputs to the AND 221 and the output of AND 221 energizes the driver 222 to energize the clamp beam down solenoid 223 to move the clamp beam down onto the rug. This clamp beam down solenoid 223 will remain energized with the clamp beam down on the rug as long as the cut flip-flop 258 remains energized.

The high on output 2 of flip-flop 258 is also coupled to inputs of AND-gates 261 and 262. Only one of these AND gates will operate depending upon the location of the cutting blade at that particular instant. Assuming that the cutting blade is in the near position. which is at the edge of the rug bed closest to the operator, a high will be standing on the blade near" switch 263 to input 1 of flip-flop 264. This flip-flop 264 is operated to produce a high on the output 2 and a low on the output 3. The low on the output 3 will prevent AND-gate 261 from operating while the high on the input to AND-gate 262 will cause this circuit to operate through driver 265 to energize the blade out" solenoid 266 to send the blade out through the rug to sever the measured rug length from the supply roll.

When the blade reaches the other side of the bed after making the cut, it operates the blade far switch 267 to place a high on one input of OR-gate 268, the output of which goes high to the single shot 269. Single shot 269 operates to place a high on the input 3 of the flip-flop 258, the output 3 going low to open the circuit to the AND-gates 261 and 262 to deenergize the driver 265 for the blade out solenoid 266. High on the blade far 267 also places the flip-flop 264, outputs 2 and 3 in the proper polarity for the next cut where driver 271 and blade return solenoid 272 would be operated. It is noted that neither blade solenoid can be operated if the clamp beam is not in its down position with the clamp beam down switch 273 operated to place a high on input leads to the AND-gates 261 and 262.

The clamp beam down switch 273 also produces a low on the output of the inverter circuit 280 to an input of AND-gate 282. This locks out the AND-gate 282 so that reverse override cannot be utilized if the clamp beam is all the way down Reverse override will be described hereafter.

Blade limit microswitches 274 are located in the rug bed so that, should the electronics fail, the blade solenoids 266 and 272 will be deenergized before any mechanical damage can be done to the blade carrier mechanism.

The pulse output of the one shot 269 is also coupled to an input of OR-gate 183 to place a high on the input 3 of the motor lockout flip-flop 139 to again enable the drive motor to be operated from the control panel.

The high from 269 is also closed to an input of OR-gate 275, the output of which goes high to the input 3 of flip-flop 219 which operates to place a high on output 4 and a low on output 2. The high on output 4 closes a high to the input 1 of AND-gate 276; the other input 2 to AND-gate 276 is high from the output of OR-gate 228 which has a high on one ofits inputs from the output of the OR-gate 275. The output of AND-gate 276 goes high to the driver 277 and operates the clamp beam up solenoid 278 to raise the clamp beam from the rug bed.

AFTER-CUT CYCLE A high is also coupled from the output of single shot 269 to the input 2 of the after cut" flip-flop 45 which operates to produce a high on the output 3 and a low on the output 1. This flip-flop 45 is the circuit which activates the after cut cycle of operation of this machine. A high is also placed on input 2 of the trim override flip-flop 188 to thereby disable the trim override cycle. The low output of the inverter 279 locks out the AND-gate 221 to the clamp beam down solenoid 223.

When the clamp beam reaches its midposition, clamp beam switch 225 places a high on the input of the inverter 227 which places a low on the input of OR-gate, 228 and thus AND-gates 221 and 276 go low to lock out both the clamp beam up and clamp beam down solenoids 223 and 278 to retain the clamp beam in the midposition.

When after cut flip-flop 45 goes high, it closes a high to the input 1 of OR-gate 283 which produces a high on one input of AND-gate 284. A high exists on the other input of the AND gate from inverter 285. The output of AND 284 goes high to the driver 285 to energize the forward bed forward solenoid 286 to cause the forward bed to be driven in the forward direction to wind up the cut carpet on the carpet roll in the gate. A high is also closed to the input of AND-gate 287 to place a high on input 3 of OR-gate 54 which operates to place highs on the inputs of OR-gates 56 and 57 to thereby activate the near and far reverse cradle clutch solenoids 63 and 64 to drive the cradle in the carpet roll windup direction to roll up the supply roll. These carpets are rolled up under control of the master control handle on the panel.

When a very heavy carpet is being run through the machine and in the after-cut" cycle when the supply roll is being rewound in the cradle, there is a tendency for the free end of the carpet, each time it makes a revolution in the cradle, to hit the forward sensor trigger and this causes the output of AND- gate 94 to pulse and therefore turn the rug feed clockwise motor control 96 on and off in an undesirable pulsing fashion. For this reason the input 3 of AND-gate 94 is placed under control of the after cut flip-flop 45 and AND-gate 22 is disabled during the after cut cycle when the supply carpet roll is being rewound in the cradle.

DISCHARGE CYCLE The discharge cycle is activated by the operator by operation of the supply and delivery control handle at the front panel. Operation of this handle opens the contacts 288 and removes positive voltage from control circuit 289 which operates to trigger the single shot circuit 291 to produce an output pulse to ANDgate 292. AND-gate 292 goes high to the input 1 of flip-flop 293 which operates to place a high on output 2 and a low on output 3. The AND-gate 292 will not go high if there is a low on the input 293 from the supply roll magazine circuit. This will keep a cradle from dumping the supply roll is there is already a carpet in the way of the supply roll on the supply roll magazine. This input 293 thus serves as a lockout to insure that the path is clear before the supply roll may be discharged. Another lockout exists on the input lead 294; this lead is low during the multiple cut" stage so that the supply and delivery handle is locked out and cannot perform a discharge function while in the multiple cut mode of opera tion.

A high on the output 2 of flip-flop 293 operates through driver 295 to operate the cradle down solenoid 296 so that the cradle is lowered to discharge the supply carpet roll. A high is also placed on one input of AND 167 for reasons to be discussed below.

When the cradle reaches its down position, a cradle down switch 297 is operated to close a high to the input 4 offlip-flop 293 to cause the output 2 to go low and the output 3 to go high. Output 2 in going low deactivates the cradle down solenoid 296. Output 3 places a high on one input of AND-gate 298 which has a high on the other input from the cradle midposition switch 299 through OR-gate 301. The output of AND 298 goes high to the driver 302 to activate the cradle up solenoid 303. When the cradle has moved up to the cradle midposition, the cradle midposition switch 299 operates to remove high from the input of OR-gate 301 so as to place a low on one input of AND-gate 298 and turn this gate off to deenergize the cradle up solenoid 303.

If the supply roll magazine is not utilized with this carpet measuring and cutting machine, it is necessary to place a high on one input of OR-gate 301 which serves to disable the cradle midposition switch.

The cradle up switch 305 operates to trigger the single shot circuit 306 which transmits a high pulse to one input of OR- gate 307 to thereby place a high on the input 1 of the flip-flop 308. Flip-flop 308 operates to place a high on the output lead 2 to the driver 309 to energize the gate solenoid 311 and thereby lower the gate to discharge the carpet roll therein. A high on the output of gate 308 is alsocoupled to one input of OR-gate 138 which energizes the slow automatic control in the motor logic circuit 75, and also activates the drive motor. A high is also placed on the input 2 of OR-gate 42 to produce a high on the input 4 of the flip-flop 45 to thereby deenergize the after cut" cycle.

When the gate reaches its down position, the gate down" switch 312 is operated to place a high on the input of the delay circuit 313, the output of which goes high to the input 3 of the flip-flop 308. The output 2 of flip-flop 308 goes low to thereby deenergize the gate solenoid 311. The automatic slow speed is also deenergized at ORgate 138.

A high is also closed to input 1 of AND-gate 314 for reasons having to do with the multicut cycle described below. A high is closed from switch 312 to OlLgate 275, the output of which goes high to input 3 of flip-flop 219 which operates to place a high on output 4 to AND-gate 276. High from gate 275 also goes to one input of OR-gate 228 to produce a high on the other input 2 of AND-gate 276 to thus activate the driver 277 and the clamp beam up solenoid 278 to raise the clamp beam to its uppermost position.

The above sequence of operation describes the mode of operation where the rug is unwound from the supply roll, is measured and is rolled up into a new roll, and is cut, the new roll being discharged from the gate end of the machine and the supply roll being discharged from the cradle end of the supply rollof carpet formeasuring and cutting.

MEASURE ONLY MODE This machine may be operated in the measure only or inventory mode of operation in which a carpet is rolled completely through the machine for the purpose of measuring the length of the carpet. The operation of the above-described circuitry is similar to that for the measure and cut cycle except that the cutting cycle is not activated. For the measure only mode, the measure only" button 234 on the control panel is pushed to place a high on one input of OR-gate 315, which goes high to the input 1 of flip-flop 316, operating flip-flop 316 to place a low on the output lead 2 to the lead 317 coupled to the counter circuitry. This high on lead 317 locks out the retard and cut signals from the counter circuitry so that the cut cycle is eliminated.

The carpet is transported through the machine until the end of the carpet passes under the clamp beam at which time the sequence sensor becomes light and the output of driver 125 goes low to produce a low on the input of the inverter 318. Inverter 318 goes high to an input of OR-gate 259, the output of which goes high to the input 4 of the runflip-flop 238. This terminates the run cycle of the machine and the rug may be discharged from the gate by activating the discharge cut roll only switch 318' to place a high on OR-gate 307 from circuit 318"to activate gate flip-flop 308. The length of carpet which has passed through the machine is registered on the counters at the control panel.

MULTIPLE CUT CYCLE If the operator desires to make multiple cuts from the same carpet roll, that is, a second or third cut after the first carpet has been cut from the supply roll, he operates the multiple cut button 235 on the front control panel before the run cycle which places a high on the input of OR-gate 319 which goes high to the input 2 of flip-flop 224 which produces a high on the output 3 and a low on the output 4. The high on the output 3 is transmitted to one input of the AND-gate 314 and also operates the multicut light 320 through driver 321. The low on the output 4 of flip-flop 224 at AND-gate 287 prevents the near and far reverse clutches 63 and 64 in the cradle from being activated and at gate 292 locks out the supply and delivery switch 288 and prevents the cradle down solenoid 296 from being activated so that the supply roll will not be discharged from the cradle after the first cut.

When the gate down trigger 312 is energized at the time the roll of carpet in the gate has been discharged by activation of the discharge roll trigger 318, a high appears on the other of AND-gate 314 to then produce a high on the input of OR-gate which goes high to initiate action of the flip-flop 106. The low on the output 2 of flip-flop 293 prevents the OR-gate 167 from operating to thereby prevent the edge and forward sensors from being retracted during the multiple cut cycle.

The multiple cut mode of operation is deactivated when a high is placed on the input 1 of the flip-flop 224 from the output of the AND-gate 217 when the position cycle flip-flop 46 first operates in the next position cycle" of operation.

TRIM CUT CYCLE The trim cut cycle is brought into play by the operator when he desires to trim the carpet or when he notices a bad spot in the carpet as the carpet is passing over the bed and he desires to stop the machine and cut the carpet at that spot.

The trim cut cycle is initiated by the operation of the trim cut button 324 on the front panel. It is necessary to push the trim cut pushbutton twice within a short period of time. The first time the pushbutton 324 is operated, control circuits 325 and 326 operate to place a square wave on the lamp driver 327 and cause the trim override lamp 328 to flash. The second time that the pushbutton 324 is pushed, the controlcircuit 325 operates to place a high on the buffer 329 which places a high on the input 3 of the flip-flop 188. At the same time the output of control circuit 326 to the driver 327 goes steady so that the trim override lamp ceases to flash but remains steadily on.

A high on the output 4 of flip-flop 188 operates OR-gate 319 to initiate the multiple cut cycle if trim override is used. A high is also placed on one input of OR-gate 331 to produce a high on the input 1 of the sequence reset flip-flop 332 to cause the output 2 of flip-flop 332 to go low in the event the flip-flop was operated. If the reverse override is utilized during the run cycle and, if the operator desires to run a trim cut at this point in the cycle, the sequence reset flip-flop 332 is thereby disabled. Operation of this flip-flop 332 is described more fully below.

The multicut cycle, flip-flop 224, is initiated at this point so that the after cut cycle and the discharge cycle will not be initiated after the trim cut is made but the operation of this carpet machine can pick up under control of the operator as if a multicut cycle had been initiated in the first instance.

A high from the output of the buffer 329 is coupled to an input of OR-g'ate 218 which places a high on input 1 of the flip-flop 219 and energizes the clamp beam down solenoid 223 to bring the clamp beam down onto the rug. A high also appears on input 2 of OR-gate 204 which causes a high on input 4 on the "frward-sensor-trigger-to-rollup cycle flip-flop 185 to deenergize this flip-flop and thus deenergize this cycle of operation. The low on the output I of the flip-flop 188 to the input 3 of the AND-circuit 184 locks out this flip-flop from operation until the trim cut flip-flop 188 is returned to normal after the trim cut cycle. The trim cut flip-flop 188 is returned to normal when high appears on single shot 269 of the blade near or blade far switch circuit.

The multiple cut cycle, flip-flop 224, is deenergized during the next position cycle when the position sensor 214 is light, the roll form is down with switch 211 high, and the clamp beam is up. A high will then appear on the output of AND- gate 217 to the input 1 offlip-flop 224.

ADVANCE AND RETRACT SENSOR OPERATION Advance and retract sensor switches 333 and 334, respectively, are located on the control panel for placing the edge and forward sensors under control of the operator. If he desires to advance the sensors, he operates the advance sensor switch 333 to place high from circuit 333 on the input of OR- gate 172 which places a high on the AND-gate 173, the output of which goes high to activate the driver 174 and operate the forward sensor solenoid 175 to advance the sensors into the carpet bed. The output of the inverter 172' goes low to the input 2 of AND-gate 168 and disables this AND gate from control by the retract sensor switch 334. The AND-gate 173 is enabled provided the inner limit switch 335 is connected to positive voltage, this inner limit switch 335 serving as a safety switch in the path of the sensors to prevent their travel too far into the carpet bed. The other input to AND-gate 173 is normally high from the output of the inverter 167' when the retract sensor switch 334 is closed to ground.

To operate these sensors in the reverse direction, the retract sensor switch 334 is operated to close high from circuit 334 to OR-gate 167 which operates to place a high on one input of AND-gate 168 to operate the reverse sensor solenoid 171. At the same time, the low on the output of the inverter 167 to the input of AND-gate 173 locks out the circuit to the forward sensor solenoid 175. An outer limit switch 336 is also provided to disable AND 168.

RUG FEED AND ROLL FORM LIFT A control is provided at the control panel for the operator to lift either the rug feed arm or the roll form. This is accomplished by pushing the auxiliary lift button 123 which places a low on the input 2 of AND-gate 207 and one input of AND- gate 245. If the roll form is down at that time, the low output of the AND-gate 207 will deenergize the roll form solenoid 209 and the low on AND-gate 245 will deenergize the roll form bypass solenoid 249 so that the roll form will raise up to its uppermost position. The output of the inverter circuit 124 will go high to the input 1 ofOR-gate 122 to cause the flip-flop 85 to operate and remove a high from the output lead 1 to the control circuit 87 to cause the rug feed servovalves to operate so as to lift the rug feed arm if it is in the down position. Only a momentary operation of the auxiliary lift button 123 is necessary to cause the rug feed arm to move up and remain up while the auxiliary button 123 must be held until the roll form is all the way up or it will lower as soon as the button is released.

REVERSE MODE The operator may place this machine in the reverse mode of operation at any time except when the clamp beam is fully down. He does this by moving the speed control handle 76 at the console into a down or reverse direction. When the control handle is in the reverse direction, the voltage on the input of Schmitt trigger 338 produces a high to one input of AND- gate 282. A high appears on a second input from the motor lockout 139 when the motor lockout circuit isnot energized; a high appears on the third input from the inverter 280 when the clamp beam is up and switch 273 coupled to ground.

With these conditions satisfied a high appears on the output of AND-gate 282 to the driver circuit 339 which provides a high on its output. High on the input ofOR-gate 54 operates as described above to energize both the near and far reverse cradle clutch solenoids 63 and 64 to roll up the carpet in the cradle. OR-gate 81 produces a low on the input 2 of the motor logic control circuit 75 which operates to energize the driving motor. High on the input 2 of OR-gate 214 energizes the driver 215 to operate the forward bed in the reverse direction. The high on one input to the OR-gate 275 produces a high on the output 4 of the flip-flop 219 and a high on the output of OR-gate 228 to cause AND-gate 27.6 to go high to operate the clamp beam up solenoid 278 to elevate the clamp beam.

If this reverse action takes place in the after cut cycle, a high on the input 3 of OR-gate 42 operates the after cut flipflop 45 to deenergize the after cut cycle.

If the reverse action takes place during the run cycle, a high on input 2 of AND-gate 241 produces a high on the input of sequence reset flip-flop 332 which operates to place a high on the output 2. This high is transmitted to input 2 of OR-gate 315 which operates to place a high on input 1 of flip-flop 316 to place a high on the output 13 to the measure only lamp from inverter 342. It also places a low on the lead 317 to the counter circuit. A high on the input 3 of OR-gate 259 causes the run flip-flop 238 to operate to remove high from the output 2 to thereby deenergize the run cycle of operation. A high on the input 1 of AND-gate 341 operates in conjunction with the square wave input from oscillator 71 on the input lead 2, gate 341 to pulse the driver 342 to cause the sequence reset lamp 343 to flash. This reverse cycle of operation may be terminated by'the operator at any time by moving the control handle 76 into the neutral position from the reverse position.

In the reverse override cycle when the carpet has been reversed far enough to cause the sequence sensor in the carpet bed to become light, high appears on input 1 of AND-gate 344 from the inverter 318. When thesequence reset button 345 is then pushed, it removes a high from the input of the inverter 346 and causes high to be placed on the input 2 of AND-gate 344 which then operates to produce a high through OR-gate 331 to reset the flip-flop 332 and deenergizes the flashing sequence reset lamp. The high on input 2 of OR gate 259 operates the run cycle flipflop 332 to produce a low on the output 2 and deenergize the run cycle. A high on the input 2 of OR-gate 41 produces a high on the input of the reverse cradle flip-flop 49 to energize this cradle reverse cycle.

Although a number of the lamps which are lighted during certain cycles of operation of this machine have been specifically mentioned, other lamps are shown in the drawings which, when lighted, indicate certain other stages of the operation of this device.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for conveying carpet from a supply roll and along a conveyor to a takeup roll, including a cradle for sup porting the carpet and means for rotating said supply roll in said cradle in a reverse direction to tighten the windings on the roll and in a forward direction to feed the carpet off the roll and onto the conveyor, the improvement comprising feeder means for engaging said supply roll, means for driving said feeder means in a direction so as to urge the free end of the carpet away from the roll and onto the conveyor, and means for reversing the direction of movement of said feeder means to urge the inner end of the carpet in the supply roll in a direction to uncurl the end winding of the supply roll.

2. Apparatus for conveying carpet from a supply roll and along a conveyor to a takeup roll, including a cradle for supporting the carpet and means for rotating said supply roll in said cradle in a reverse direction to tighten the windings on the roll and in a forward direction to feed the carpet off the roll and onto the conveyor, the improvement comprising a feeder arm, a plurality of feeder belts supported on said feeder arm, means for moving said feeder arm mechanism'to bring said belts into close proximity with said supply roll, means for driving said feeder belts in a direction so as to urge the free end of the carpet away from the roll and onto the conveyor, means for thereafter raising said feeder arm from engagement with the supply roll, and means for subsequently reversing the direction of movement of said feeder belts so as to urge the inner end of the carpet in the supply roll in a direction to uncurl the end winding of the supply roll. 

1. Apparatus for conveying carpet from a supply roll and along a conveyor to a takeup roll, including a cradle for supporting the carpet and means for rotating said supply roll in said cradle in a reverse direction to tighten the windings on the roll and in a forward direction to feed the carpet off the roll and onto the conveyor, the improvement comprising feeder means for engaging said supply roll, means for driving said feeder means in a direction so as to urge the free end of the carpet away from the roll and onto the conveyor, and means for reversing the direction of movement of said feeder means to urge the inner end of the carpet in the supply roll in a direction to uncurl the end winding of the supply roll.
 2. Apparatus for conveying carpet from a supply roll and along a conveyor to a takeup roll, including a cradle for supporting the carpet and means for rotating said supply roll in said cradle in a reverse direction to tighten the windings on the roll and in a forward direction to feed the carpet off the roll and onto the conveyor, the improvement comprising a feeder arm, a plurality of feeder belts supported on said feeder arm, means for moving said feeder arm mechanism to bring said belts into close proximity with said supply roll, means for driving said feeder belts in a direction so as to urge the free end of the carpet away from the roll and onto the conveyor, means for thereafter raising said feeder arm from engagement with the supply roll, and means for subsequently reversing the directiOn of movement of said feeder belts so as to urge the inner end of the carpet in the supply roll in a direction to uncurl the end winding of the supply roll. 